Another thing often forgotten: Gladbach won the 1970/71 title even though they lost two points at the “green table.” And neither the team, nor the coach, nor the fans were at fault — the local authorities were. In the home match against Werder Bremen, with the score at 1:1, Herbert Laumen crashed into the goal net after an aerial challenge with Werder keeper Bernard, and the post snapped. The DFB court ruled the match 2:0 in Bremen’s favor for “culpably causing the abandonment of a match.” Gladbach’s players were furious and published an open letter asking, with some justification: “Are we football professionals or construction workers?\n\nWhere does it say that players are responsible for putting up the pitch equipment, something city employees are responsible for?
What fault is ours if a piece of wood somewhere in the municipal sports complex breaks and can no longer be repaired?” Fittingly, the supposed culprit Herbert Laumen moved to Bremen after the season — and “post-breaker” became his middle name.